URBAN LIFE TIPS: BENEFITS OF GETTING CHILDREN INTO GARDENING

Gardening offers wonderful and amazing opportunities for children to play, learn and grow!

Growing plants is an amazing and astonishing thing and should be part of every child’s life. Now a days organic vegetable gardens are cultivated in terraces, balconies, community plots, schools, apartment and sub-urban neighbourhood. Have you ever wondered whether gardening was worth the time and effort for you and your child! Gardening offers so many fun and interesting opportunities for children and you, and teaches them invaluable lessons which build a bonding. The plantation makes the children build up their immune system, enhances the physical and mental development of the child.

Here are few benefits of getting children into gardening-

GARDENING PROVIDES PRACTICAL EDUCATING FOR CHILDREN

Gardening helps children in learning several topics that are a part of day today activity. The topics include seasons, weather, life cycles, animals and mini beasts. These are topics that children learn about from kindergarten through their school lives.

It also helps develop numeracy and general knowledge skills. Measurements and counting are mathematical concepts which are involved with gardening. Reading instructions on how to grow a plant or the name of different seeds and different insects, how birds and insects help in pollination, etc.. Help enhance general knowledge skills. Gardening helps kids to involve with nature and learn several aspects relationship between plants and animals. It helps children learn importance of sunlight, photosynthesis, watering and environment.

Fun activities for your child in gardening by learn the various shapes, structure and colour of the plant also help towards developing skills.

They are various parameters where mathematics can be included while gardening from counting the number of seeds to be sown, measuring the growth of the plant, counting the number of leaves, number of stems, number of days for vegetative growth, duration of flowering and fruiting of the particular plant, number of petals in the flower, height of the plant, diameter, vegetables count for a particular season, etc. The measurements of the growth of the plant can be recorded and create a graph. This is a great way to introduce Geometry.

GARDENING PROVIDES SOCIAL EXPOSURE TO CHILDREN

As a gardener or a parent, you understand the importance of gardening that involves organizing and planning a garden which can be time consuming and a creative art form to design the garden according to the space availability and according to the plants which needs crop needs to be planted for different seasons. Segregation of ornamental plants, flowering plants, vegetable plants and fruit plants. You need to know what flowers bloom during which season of year, how long it takes a seed to actually turn into a vegetable and when is the best time to plant your seeds. Involving kids helps increase their planning and problem solving skills. It also enhances their organizational strategies which can be carried over to every aspect of life!

When gardening, children have to move all around the garden until they finish the task. So, gardening teaches them a pattern of active routine and contributes to a wider understanding of numerous ways of staying healthy and developing time management skills.

Whether it’s a community garden, or family garden, gardening helps children learn how to work as a term. The anticipation to wait for whose flower to bloom from the shoot through the soil first, will encourage children to interact and engage in garden. Gardening presents wonderful opportunities for children to bond with nature and nurture their plants.

It also provides the time and space for children to bond and connect with their parents, grandparents and peers.

GARDENING CONNECTS CHILDREN TO NATURE

When children garden, they realize the importance to take care of the Earth if they want their garden to grow and produce healthy plants. It creates the perfect opportunity for parents to talk to their kids about concepts such as pollution, pesticides, recycling, and waste management.

Spending time in garden helps children develop an understanding about nature, its beauty and the important role in taking care of the garden. It’s a brilliant way to teach children that they are never too young to make a difference in the world by starting at home, society and community.

RELEASING CHILDREN FROM VIRTUAL LIFE AND INTRODUCING TO THE REAL WORLD

Does your child rag about the idea of going outside because there “nothing much to do”? Planting a garden is a great way to engage your child outdoors every day and release them from gargets. Children are naturally inquisitive and like to check on the progress of plants and making a scrap book out of different stages of the plant with the photography. There’s nothing more pleasing when you pluck the first tender vegetable grown by your child.

Being outdoors is great for children. As well as the fact kids love the great outdoors, the fresh air works wonders for them, and outdoor activities keep them active, reduce stress and get smarter!

Being outside and involved in activities in gardening with fresh air and gentle sunlight is an amazing experience for children. Gardening can also have a great outcome on various skills and the promotion of a healthy body for children.

ENHANCES THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHILD

Gardening enhances and engages all sorts of senses that help children to develop and recognize them without even realizing. They can feel the texture of soil, seeds, flower and petals, see the vibrant colors and varied sizes of the plants, hear the sound of the vegetable when it is taken from the plant and smell the amazing scents of the flowers.. they get to smell all the amazing flower scents and see all the colourful petals.

It also helps developing physical strength. Gardening is a physical activity and requires the body to exercise by digging, carrying, lifting, watering etc.

As children garden, they develop important motor skills that will help them improve skills such as writing, cutting and typing.

Gardening is good for building muscle and bones, flexibility, fine motor skills and coordination. Digging soil is hard work, pulling out weeds and watering the plants. Children learn to use tools when plantings seeds, plucking insects from lettuce or picking fruits and veggies and pruning the plant and involves a ton of body movements that use plenty of muscles in both the upper and lower parts of the body. Therefore, their motor skills are enhanced.

GARDENING HELPS CHILDREN LEARN RESPONSIBILITY & PATIENCE

Growing any sort of plant or vegetable from the seedling requires daily care and nurture. If the plants aren’t regularly watered and taken care of, they won’t boom. Gardening is a great way to teach responsibility- Children will need to learn to be patient and waiting for their flowers to bloom and vegetables to grow. Children need to remain engaged in the process of cultivation and keep looking after their flowers.

Children learn that they have to take care of their plants each day in order for them to become into healthy plants.

Kids are used to immediate delight; however, gardening is often a slow process. They have to learn to be patient when waiting for their flowers and vegetables to grow. The eagerness to look forward when it flowers or vegetable sprouts even more exciting!

CHILDREN BENEFIT HEALTHY EATING BY GARDENING

It’s a real task to get children to eat healthy foods and enjoy them for better health. Growing vegetables not only teaches them the hard work that it takes to grow them, but they get a sense of achievement to eat food they have grown themselves.

It’s not just the process of gardening, but learning about all the different fruits and vegetables they can grow, when is best to grow certain ones, and time to harvest.

It’s good to teach children basics of cooking of food, from harvest, which helps towards encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Eating healthy food is important for brain and body development but it is hard to get children to eat those fruits and veggies. By having them grow their own beans, carrots, lettuce, etc they will enjoy in eating what they have “created.” This, in turn, will emphasize the importance of healthy eating.

CONCLUSION

Children learn new skills, have fun and play, develop self-confidence by spending time in the garden by growing their own food. Most children enjoy being in terraces or balconies and love digging the soil, getting dirty, creating things and watching plants grow.

In this virtual technology age, children need time with family. Time in the garden allows them to build team and communication skills. Planning a garden, planting the seeds and watching them grow give children a sense of responsibility. Making sure that the plants get enough nutrients, water and sun for a healthy growth. The concepts learned while gardening, like composting food scraps for fertilizer or using gathered rainwater, can develop the responsibility for taking care of our planet.

When children play with soil during gardening like digging and planting, they improve mood, better learning experiences and reduces anxiety. Most important is the self-esteem a child gets from eating that they have grown by themselves is priceless.